PREFACE. A VERY few words will explain the object of this little book. It is meant to help those who wish to help themselves in the adorning of their own rooms; it is meant to give them a few hints as to what to do and how to do it; and it is meant above all to give them encouragement. No one knows what he can do till he tries, and my advice is, emphatically—try. Failures are easily painted out, and new attempts (as many even as Bruce's celebrated spider's efforts) can be made on the old ground. This book is especially written to show at how small a cost these trials may be made; and it is dedicated to all those whose chief capital consists in their energy and artistic feeling. An ugly, square, commonplace room may be made charming by its occupant, and its occupant may be made happy by the work of decorating it. Man was meant to work-so was woman; hence, no doubt, arises the feeling of satisfaction which glows within us at the sight of "something accomplished, something done,” and which the contemplation of paid labour, however skilful, never evokes. Love of artistic surroundings is now very general among the upper classes in England, but it is astonishing to notice how very slowly it penetrates to a lower level. Lodging-houses and inns-especially in remote country towns-still luxuriate in papers and furniture of almost preternatural hideousness. One cannot help feeling sorry for the numerous artists who, during the autumn months, take up their abode in these places, and to whom the arsenic green paper, enlivened by patches of magenta, the table-cloth of a different green combined with red, the anti-macassars of blue, violet, red, magenta, yellow and several other colours, the pictures on the wall, and the coloured glass and china on the mantel-piece, must have combined to form a perpetual visual blister. In such a room it is impossible to judge of the effect even of their own pictures. Every man's house is his castle, and every woman has a right to her own ideas as to the furnishing thereof, and she sticks to them with the conservatism of her own sex ; but it would be a boon to thousands if some new Peter the Hermit would arise and preach a crusade against unnecessary hideousness; and he might direct his special energies to the reform of the wall-paper manufacturers who print and send forth such horrible combinations of colour. In the meantime, let us entreat our gentle and sympathetic readers to use their own forces in the cause of beauty, so that our rooms may be, indeed, pleasant places. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Moorish Design (Coloured Plate, No. VI.) PAGE Frontispiece 12 23 38 Japanese Design (Coloured Plate No. V.) 47 50 52 58 63 67 74 79 HOW TO INTRODUCTION. FEW people, I should imagine, are insensible to the pleasing glow of satisfaction which arises throughout the system at the sight of their own handiwork— something begun probably with misgivings, but brought, after many mistakes and much anxiety of mind, to a triumphant termination. I have gone through the process-especially the mistakes: starting with a very slight knowledge of the various necessary handicrafts, I have had, as schoolboys gracefully say, to "find out,"-a proceeding accompanied by re-doings, alterations and patchings up, and loss of time and temper. My friends also, I regret to say, had to find out a good deal about the varnish on my chairs and stools, which persisted in sticking to their garments instead of to the objects it was meant to adorn. These few hints are the results of my "finding out," and I hope they may be found of practical use to future decorators. There are many obvious reasons why people should prefer B |